University of Arizona South: Teaching with Technology - The Multiplayer Classroom: Designing Coursework as a Game - page 87

and are
partly inspired by both difficulty levels and linear progression in video
games.
n A course planning tool that offers students a tremendous amount of
student choice about what to study and how to study it. This tool ena-
bles students to select from hundreds of available assignments in dozens
of content areas, using an intuitive drag-and-drop interface. Potential XP
and skill point totals are automatically calculated so that students can see
what they can expect to achieve in the areas of grading, knowledge, and
skills by the end of the course. This tool also allows us to review stu-
dents

summarize), � or “ Gold (compose, create, design, plan, invent) �

plans of study and provide feedback and guidance before they are
finalized. Together with our assignment level system, the planning tool
provides students with a guided experience through the sandbox struc-
ture of

'

“ Teaching with Technology. �

“ recognizing accomplishments such as exceptional per-

formance on a specific assignment, aggregate skill point totals, and so
on. Similar systems exist in many games and game platforms, most nota-
bly on Xbox Live. Our achievements are awarded based on data collected
automatically by the LMS. Students are notified that they have earned an
achievement by email.

Achievements �

n

Skill points, which are awarded in five categories corresponding to key
course themes and skills. Students

n

individual skill point distributions
reflect what they choose to study within the course competencies, and
serve as a resource as students reflect metacognitively on the learning
process. We devised several secret achievements to recognize particular
patterns of skill point distributions, such as

'

“ �

Jack of All Trades and

“ One-Track Mind. �

One of the main strengths of this design is that it incorporates many of the
benefits of game-based learning without sacrificing either flexibility (the frame-
work is viable for many subjects and student populations) or applicability in a
traditional educational context (real schools can do this with real educators). By
organizing content into modules, we are able to gate progress, so that students
cannot move beyond their level of expertise as in a video game, assessment is

built into the activity. At the same time, the thematic connections between

—